It is almost a “you had to be there” situation, how badass George Foreman was in the first half of 1974. 40-0, seeking to look to soothe the inner turmoil of his soul via contained violence for the entertainment of the masses. That meant taking it to foes with a determination that had plenty of […]
Exclusive: ‘Rumble In The Jungle’ 50th Anniversary With George Foreman & Larry Merchant Read More »
Larry Merchant is 93 years old, and I’m happy to report that he is living happily in Santa Monica, CA, walking, exercising, caring for his wife, and yep, watching fights. He tunes in the big ones and watches the Top Rank/ESPN fare. Oh, and he pays attention to the wider world. He reads the NY
Larry Merchant Weighs In On Ryan Garcia & Shakur Stevenson Read More »
“Shakur is Shakur,” Top Rank boss Bob Arum told FightsATW, two days after the fighter headlined on ESPN and won via unanimous decision in his hometown of Newark, NJ. The Brooklyn-born ATG promoter impressed me with his POV on Shakur Stevenson, whose contract with Top Rank ended with the bout against Artem Harutyunyan Saturday night.
Exclusive: Bob Arum Talks Shakur Stevenson, Loma-Tank & Inoue Read More »
Am I alone here? Maybe so, it might be that I’m a Gen X crank who is stuck in place, unable or unwilling to move with the times, and accept the fight game for what it is. As I took in the latest Ryan Garcia “news,” and spent time and energy examining the recent chapter
Boxing’s Second Half of 2024 State of The Union Address Read More »
Being billed as “Boxing’s Greatest Showman” is a blessing and maybe not a curse, but certainly is a setting of the bar, which can backfire when Teofimo Lopez doesn’t close the show, with a pound-of-flesh exclamation point. That climax didn’t come for those assembled in Miami and watching Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) defend a 140
Sunday Convo: Is Teofimo Lopez Boxing’s Greatest Showman? Read More »
Thirty-eight-year-old men generally don’t have a turnaround epiphany, and if they are an athlete like Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs), become something new, like a jabbing machine. Perhaps you were hearing claims of this being a “new” Deontay, or a better refurbished one, who will be using boxing skills in Riyadh to
Zhilei Zhang vs Deontay Wilder Preview Read More »
The union between a fighter and trainer can be seen as like a marriage. It’s an intimate arrangement; the two parties negotiate the waves together, rely on each other, love each, even. Then life can intrude. Familiarity can breed, if not contempt, then indifference. So often, money is an intruder which shows up to muddy
Derrick James vs Errol Spence Jr: The Legal Battle Between Trainer & Fighter Read More »
Larry Merchant said he’s thinking more of Ryan Garcia than it seems like most all pundits, the ex-HBO ATG told me on Wednesday. No, the 93-year-old won’t be picking Garcia as an underdog and will be watching the action from Brooklyn in California. We didn’t talk as much about the fight or the strangeness of
Is Ryan Garcia Changing The Way Boxing Is Promoted? Read More »
Jamaine Ortiz has slept on it, twice, and is still of the belief that he deserved to have his hand raised in Vegas after going 12 rounds with Teofimo Lopez, the Takeover Showman, on ESPN. Let’s get this out of the way right away, I don’t see it like Ortiz does. “I was in control –
Bob Arum & Jimmy Burchfield Sr Comment on Teofimo Lopez vs Jamaine Ortiz Decision Read More »
Right up front, let me say I am not of the belief that Tyson Fury cut himself or orchestrated getting sliced above his right eye to dodge a planned foe scrap against Oleksandr Usyk on Feb 17. Plenty of others are willing to heavily imply or even outright state they think this cut/postponement for the
